Lincolnshire County Council

The start of the journey

Back in 2018, Lincolnshire was in need of a new online reporting system for highways defects.

The new system needed to be able to integrate with their existing asset management system, Confirm, and help them to improve the online reporting process to encourage more residents who are able to use digital channels to do so.

Oh, and they needed it very quickly.

Andrea Bowes, who was ICT Data and Information Systems Architect for Lincolnshire County Council and led on this project at the time, explained:

“I approached SocietyWorks in early May to replace our existing online fault reporting system which was to be switched off at the end of that month, and since we’ve engaged them, they have bent over backwards to help get the new fault reporting portal ready.

“So much so that in a matter of a few weeks we had a test site up and running and integrated with our central asset management system, and several weeks later we now have a live fault reporting system that can be accessed from anywhere on any device, that is fully integrated into our central asset management system, that displays local data for users to report against.

“The platform makes it easier for our citizens to report faults to us and receive updates and alerts, and provides us with more accurate information to work with. The whole implementation process, from start to finish, has been incredibly smooth.”

The road to better online highway fault reporting

Getting Lincolnshire’s FixMyStreet Pro off the ground on time and in good time was one thing, but of course, that was merely the first of many things the Council wanted to achieve.

As is often the case, you get out what you put in, and Lincolnshire is, by all accounts, a gold standard user of FixMyStreet Pro.

From their iterative approach to setting up response templates that use accessible and approachable language, to making maximum use of available data shared via API integration with Confirm, it’s been great to see them put FixMyStreet Pro to the test and reap the rewards.

“To demonstrate the value that an automated public facing platform presents to the County Council, if the reporting method did not exist and needed to revert back to traditional methods […] the cost to the authority would be in the region of £300,000 per annum.”

— Jonathan Evans, Head of Highways at Lincolnshire County Council

At the time of FixMyStreet Pro’s installation in Lincolnshire, online reporting accounted for only around 50% of their highways reports, with most coming via the customer service centre.

In a recent review of the service by Lincolnshire’s Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee, Jonathan Evans, Head of Highways at Lincolnshire County Council, reported that there has been a “decisive shift” toward online reporting, with FixMyStreet Pro accounting for 80% of reports since 2023 and handling around 50,000 of them each year.

Further than that, Jonathan also estimated that FixMyStreet Pro sends over 200,000 updates to report-makers each year, automatically keeping members of the public informed every time the status of their report is changed by officers and contractors within Confirm. He said:

“The real benefit of [automated responses from FixMyStreet Pro] is that this is work we have to do anyway. The changing of status – whether that’s a contractor programming or scheduling, or saying we’ve started the work – all of those activities need to happen. We use this functionality to keep the member of the public updated as much as possible.

“To demonstrate the value that an automated public facing platform presents to the County Council, if the reporting method did not exist and needed to revert back to traditional methods – so that would be using a call centre to take calls – the cost to the authority would be in the region of £300,000 per annum.

“I think [the increase in online reporting] gives a feel for, while there are still bits to improve on FixMyStreet, members of the public are choosing to use the platform and getting the responses they need.”

Embracing the functionality of FixMyStreet Pro

Lincolnshire really hit the ground running with their implementation of FixMyStreet Pro, which shows in the way they managed to steadily increase online reporting and get more of the right information out in response to reports.

Jonathan’s review to the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee also acknowledged the hard work Lincolnshire has put into taking advantage of the flexibility of FixMyStreet Pro to tailor it even more to their needs. Back to Jonathan:

“The system has been configured to allow sharing photos of completed jobs with the reporter on FixMyStreet. When a repair is made, the gang take a photo which is passed back to the reporter and posted on the site to let the reporter see the works that have taken place, and I think that is a really positive step.”

Jonathan also mentioned the work Lincolnshire has done on the language used within the responses sent from their FixMyStreet Pro service, and how this has helped improve the experience for users.

“The Highways team worked really closely with the customer service advocates and corporate communications lead to ensure that the messages were clear, described the situation in a straightforward way and easily understood.”

Another enhancement Lincolnshire has made to their FixMyStreet Pro is to adopt reporting of Public Rights of Way into the service via an asset layer shared from Confirm. This enables members of the public to enjoy the same reporting experience for problems relating to stiles or signposts as for highways issues.

Weathering storms and seasonal demand

Lincolnshire has also made effective use of FixMyStreet Pro’s heat map, which Jonathan noted was used “extensively” in relation to Storm Darragh in December 2024.

“There were a number of trees down, and that sort of functionality was really useful for us to prioritise and see resource on the network.”

More widely, FixMyStreet Pro has given Lincolnshire the ability to implement multiple improvements to their highways reporting service off the back of some lessons learned workshops following on from other recent storms.

One of those improvements was to separate flooding categories from other drainage-related categories on FixMyStreet to ensure reports were better triaged according to their severity and got to the most appropriate team. In cases of emergency, the service signposts the report-maker to the most appropriate emergency service.

An additional flooding category was added for flooding to homes or businesses, with subcategories to enable the reporter to say whether flooding is likely to happen or in-progress. For preventative reports, extra questions (such as whether the resident requires sandbags, and if so how many, or whether they consider themselves or anyone else in the home to be vulnerable) have been added to the report workflow to help residents self-serve all the data needed to help the council respond appropriately.

During periods of seasonal demand or in emergency situations like severe flooding, Lincolnshire has made use of FixMyStreet Pro’s emergency messaging features, managing expectations of report-makers at various stages of the reporting process.

“[During emergencies] we can make it clear to members of the public that this isn’t business as usual, so when they’re reporting possibly less urgent risks, they can see that we are stretched and dealing with other issues at the time.”